PETA requests pet ownership ban

Ex-Wes prof accused of leaving 2nd dog to die in hot car

MIDDLETOWN » A representative of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals appealed to the state’s attorney this week, urging him to consider an ownership ban for the 79-year-old man who is charged with animal cruelty in connection with leaving his dog in a hot car in mid-July. The dog died.

David Beveridge of Chimney Hill Road was charged with animal cruelty July 18 after the incident involving his Labradoodle named Jennie. Police say it’s the second time a dog belonging to the man died after being left in a car.

A Wesleyan University spokesperson confirmed Beveridge is a retired professor of natural science and mathematics.

Beveridge told police he meant to bring the dog to a pet care center around noon July 18 before going to work. He said he did not remember until around 2:30 p.m. that the dog was still in the car. When he ran out to check on the

animal, it was dead, he told police.

Temperatures that day were in the 90s.

Beveridge’s attorney Melissa Harris has not returned an email seeking comment.

PETA sent a letter to the Middlesex Judicial District State’s Attorney Peter McShane Wednesday requesting that Beveridge be banned from owning or harboring animals in the future.

Police say records at a veterinary hospital show a 4-year-old poodle mix named Charlie died in May 2014 after Beveridge left it in a car.

“If these allegations are accurate — particularly with regard to an earlier such occurrence — Beveridge has demonstrated a stark unwillingness or inability to meet the basic duties of animal custodianship and should be prohibited from owning or harboring animals if convicted (a common provision in such cases),” Allison Fandl of PETA’s Cruelty Investigations Department wrote.

Beveridge was released on a promise to appear in Middlesex Superior Court Aug. 21.